Come Home to Norfolk

How would you react if an active threat situation occurred at your place of business? That’s the question our public safety team posed yesterday to a group of 40 individuals, made up of multiple Norfolk-based businesses, who took part in our Active Threat Response Training. Personnel from Norfolk Fire-Rescue, Police and Emergency Preparedness & Response were on hand for a three-hour session to share and empower the attendees with a diverse collection of information. This included recognizing and dealing with hostile situations, preparedness tips for employees, critical details to relay to the 911 dispatcher and how to stop bleed and administer hands-only CPR. (A special shoutout to Capital Group for hosting the training which is a perfect example of our partnership program in full effect!)

The saying goes “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”, and our team couldn’t agree more. This is precisely why training opportunities, such as this one, highlight the importance of partnerships between the public and private sector in our community. To address this critical piece, our department has a dedicated and formalized Private Sector Partnership Program to build relationships and increase resiliency among all business stakeholders in Norfolk. To accomplish this, we support the private sector through information sharing, situational awareness, understanding of needs and capabilities, and training and education. 

Our department recognizes that businesses and organizations play an invaluable role in preparing for emergencies and enhancing the overall resilience of Norfolk. From large-scale events to localized incidents, businesses must know where, when, and how to respond to minimize the impact to their operations. Time and time again, this partnership program showcases its strong return on investment and will no doubt continue to strengthen each day. 

For more information on our partnership program, please visit www.norfolk.gov/eocbusiness or email us at norfolkepr@norfolk.gov.